Curriculum Alignment and Science and Engineering Practices in the Classroom

The release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013 introduced educators to the three dimensions of science literacy, which are the (a) Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), (b) Cross-Cutting Concepts (CCCs), and the (c) Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). For educators to address all three dimensions, they must analyze not only the expected content, but also how that content is presented and connected. Curriculum mapping is a tool developed in 1980 that can be used to analyze curricular alignment. This project focused on the creation of rubrics to analyze and evaluate the use of SEPs in conjunction with curriculum maps in the 6-8 grade band.